The present disclosure relates to a solenoid device and to an image forming apparatus incorporating the solenoid device, such as a copier, a printer, or a facsimile machine.
Conventionally, as a driving source of a movable member in an electronic device such as an image forming apparatus, a solenoid device is widely used. The solenoid device has a plunger (movable iron core) normally located at a position away from a coil by a spring, and when the coil is magnetically excited, the plunger moves toward the coil.
In a solenoid device as described above, impact noise and vibration inconveniently occur when a plunger operates. As a solution, various methods have been proposed for suppressing impact noise and vibration occurring when a plunger operates; for example, an electromagnetic solenoid is known in which a sound-absorbing/sound-muffling material is interposed between a flapper (movable piece) and a supporting portion which supports the flapper.